Shadows of the Past - Connections
by Normal Writer - Anything But
Summary: Metal Sonic's journey continues as he begins to know the virtues of life. Read as his story takes many different paths and branches. (AU)
1. Prologue

**_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sonic or any of its properties._**

_**Aloha, everybody! Welcome to my first story, Shadows of the Past. This isn't meant to follow-up or lead up to the main continuity; this is an entirely different universe, an AU in a way. As you probably know, this is what would have happened if Shadow had died for good in Sonic Adventure 2. (TAKE NOTE THAT I AM MESHING THIS TOGETHER WITH THE SONIC X SERIES, because there will be characters and events from that show included here.) I'm taking care of every game up to maybe Sonic Generations, but if enough people like this story, I'll go further; however, I am skipping over Sonic Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog, since I really dislike those games, and if you look back on it, they're never referenced again in the series; in a way they never happened. I'm also skipping over all the handheld games; yes, including Sonic Rush. But anyhow, let's get the story on. However, before we start, I'd like to tackle the last act of Sonic Adventure 2 as a prologue, just so that you all have a clear understanding of what leads up to the timeline split. So, enjoy.**_

_"Shadow..." _

The voice of Maria echoes through the gold and red male's mind. "Maria?" he calls out to no one in particular, causing a look of confusion to appear on Sonic, the other gold hedgehog to his right.

_"Shadow," _the voice says again. _"Give them a chance... to be... h..a..p..p..y..." _The two super-powered hedgehogs race to the gargantuan space station hurdling to earth.

"Alright," Sonic shouts over the noise of his own emanating energy, "now, Shadow!" The pair gathers a large amount of energy in the form of a golden orb. "Chaos... _Control!_" they both chant in unison. Their power flows toward its target; said space station, ARK, mentioned earlier. Defying all common logic, their attack expands to the size of the ARK, enveloping it in a field of supercharged Chaos Energy. In a blinding flash of light, the colony is gone, leaving nothing but deep space where it was before. As the hedgehogs send the colony far away to another site, while they do not know it, our two heroes are being cheered on from afar by hundreds of millions of people on the surface of the precious planet they worked so hard to protect. Earth.

Unfortunately for the Ultimate Life Form, his minutes are now numbered. As the last of his power leaves him, he gravitates down to the big blue planet earth. The Blue Blur notices this, and turns back, in trying to rescue his fellow hedgehog. "Shadow," Sonic calls out, "grab my hand!" Opening his eyes, the male hedgehog weakly raises his hand up. When it looks like he is about to grab on, he reels back and slaps the other hedgehog's hand as hard as he can, propelling himself back and causing his right Power Ring to fall.

_"Maria," _Shadow whispers, _"this is what you wanted... right?" _He suddenly feels tears welling up in his shut eyes. _"This... is my promise... I made... to you..."_ With those last words, he is finally pulled into the earth's gravity... and is falling.

* * *

It is a few minutes later. The main room of the ARK has many uneasy creatures; each of them expected Sonic and Shadow to be back at the ARK by now, but neither one has turned out. Suddenly, when it seems that all hope is lost for the pair of hedgehogs, the door hisses open. It reveals... _one _hedgehog. Everyone in the room turns around, expecting to see Sonic and Shadow... but the latter is missing. The first to speak is Rouge the Bat herself. "Where is Shadow?" she asks, emotionless. As an answer, the returning blue male holds his head low and shakes it... indicating that the Ultimate Life Form will not be returning from his battle. He slowly walks to Rouge, and hands her something...

It is Shadow's gold ring. It is the only thing that any of our mobian heroes will have to remember him by.

Rouge begins again, "Do you really think... that the professor created him... Shadow... to carry out his revenge on all human life?"

"He was what he was," Sonic replies bluntly. "He was a brave and heroic hedgehog..."

"I guess you're right," Rouge replies. "Maybe he was evil... but in the end... he was still a hero."

Everyone converses with each other for the next few minutes; talking about Shadow, Professor Gerald, or their hopes for the future.

"To end... all human life..." Sonic says to himself, until Amy Rose approaches.

"What's the matter, Sonic?" she asks him. The blue male turns his head to the right.

"Oh," he says, "it's nothing. Come on, let's go home! To the planet as cool, and blue as me!" The pink female to his left walks off to the door, and Sonic follows. Before leaving, however, he turns back to view the earth from afar. "Sayonara, Shadow, the Hedgehog..." he whispers under his breath.

**Now, I am sure that you all know this story. You have all probably heard this about ten times. So, why am I retelling it?**

**Because this time, the game will change.**

_**(A/N: Well, that is the end of Chapter 1, Prologue. Like I said, I just wanted to retell the events leading up to the timeline split. I know this chapter was also fairly short, but since it is the prologue, and it is also not **__**technically**__** part of the story, since it **__**actually happened in the continuity,**__** I did it like that on purpose. From now on, chapters will be a lot longer. Make sure to favorite and leave your comments on the review page.**_

_**Best wishes,**_

_**Just Another Writer)**_


	2. Chapter 1: Another Story

_**OK, sorry for the delay. I had some loose ends to tie up, so I couldn't find much time to write this story. In fact, this chapter isn't even halfway finished. I plan on making this chapter, along with every other chapter, around 3,000-5,000 words. I'm just putting this current version here as "filler", just to fill in space until I can finish this chapter.**_

_**So, to get everyone up to speed, this is an alternate timeline in which Shadow dies in the battle against the Biohazard. Rather than being found by one of Eggman's droids while in orbit, he plummets to Earth and falls into the ocean. While this could in theory only alter a few events, I'm taking the hard way out with this story and I'm fleshing out just about every single possible alteration in the timeline. I'm not spoiling anything; read the story for yourself. Now let's cut the crap and dive into the story.**_

It has been six months since the supposed death of Shadow the Hedgehog. No sightings or traces have been found or reported thus far, so the Ultimate Life form is - according to current records - dead.

DEAD. The last word you'd think would be involved with the Ultimate Life form.

Since the ARK incident, Dr. Eggman seems to have kept a low profile. No giant robots, warships, or super-powered beasts were seen by anyone since the Doctor disappeared. It seemed like for the first time in years, the world had achieved peace.

But such as the course of life, that peace would soon be broken.

The clicking of Rouge the Bat's boots echoed through the from the steel obstacle. Intel reported that the code was 281.50. She remembered seeing a few weeks ago that the Doctor's weight was 282. He must have been so proud of losing that 1/2 pound. After inputting the code, the behemoth steel door hissed open, producing an ominous - yet at the same time extremely cliché - fog blanketing half of the room. Walking through the haze, the female bat noticed a red and white capsule at the center of the secret room, containing a green liquid.

"This is it!" she shouted to no one in particular. "I've finally found Eggman's secret treasure!" She happily dashed ahead to the control panel, simultaneously dropping a special item. Hearing a clang, she hit the brakes and cocked her head back. The glint of Shadow's ring caught her eye, flashing memories back into her head...

* * *

Trapped inside the treasure safe, Rouge expecting this was her last treasure hunt. The dynamite pack should go off at any moment; she would be a goner soon. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, when suddenly, a crimson and black figure materialized above her. After her eyes recovered from the flash, she looked closer to see that it was...

Shadow?!

The ebony hedgehog rushed toward Rouge. "Chaos... _Control!_" he exclaimed at the top of his lungs, carrying them both up to the ARK. She was now standing on the glass floor right next to her savior...

* * *

_"What am I thinking?" _she yelled in her mind. _"I have a job to do!" _She snapped back to reality and picked up the ring.

Rouge tapped the big red "EJECT" button and the liquid began to drain out of the pod. Behind her, a loud buzz emanated from a hulking figure attached to the wall. She spun around to see a large droid trudging out of the shadows, ripping cords and wires from the wall. Fear's fingers caressed her face. Like the Security Hall incident months before, she feared for her own life. Gulping hard, she cocked her head back, afraid to look, but also afraid not to look.

A shining blue figure fell from the capsule hatch, creating a _clang _noise. Rouge turned back and forth until the hulking behemoth was upon her and a red glow shined from Eggman's "treasure."

_"Whatever it is..." _Rouge thought to herself, _"I hope it knows how to fight!"_

She turned to see a gun pointed to her forehead.


End file.
